For my latest assignment in English, I had to create my own myth/short story following the "hero's journey" pattern:

1. Setting
2. Characters
3. Unusual Birth/Childhood
4. Call to Action
5. Crossing the Threshold
6. Supernatural Helper
7. Challenges/Trials
8. Special Tool/Weapon
9. Abyss/Temptation
10. Transformation
11. Return
12. Mastery of Two Worlds

       I wrote mine about a princess who has to complete a quest to earn her place on the throne. Please read and leave your comments below. I am always up for some constructive criticism!

       Furthermore (95%) is a fantastic middle-grade fantasy novel by Tahereh Mafi. It was the perfect book to start off my year! I hadn't read any middle-grade for a long time, (This summer...?) and I am so glad I decided to pick this one up. It was also my first book by Tahereh Mafi since I haven't read her Shatter Me series. (Still contemplating this. Leave your thoughts in the comments. I need an outside opinion.)
       First off, I loved Alice and her quirky personality. She was such an awesome girl to read about. I loved her fiery personality and cleverness that she presents throughout the book. She doesn't ever give up, even when things look really bad for her and her friends in Furthermore.
       I also really liked how Mafi wrote the narration. 3rd person narrators with their own personality are one of my favorite things in books. It adds another dimension to the story like you've sat down around a campfire to listen to someone tell the tale.
       My favorite part(s) of this book, however, are the magic systems of both of the worlds that Alice is a part of. Color, as a system of magic, is a great concept, especially for a middle-grade novel. I loved learning and exploring this new system of fantasy.

       I know, you probably think I'm crazy. But that's nothing new, so let's move on from that. Precommendations (/prekəmənˈdāSH(ə)n/, according to Google's phonetic spelling for "recommendation". You just add a "p", so we're all on the same page. Because nothing is worse than disagreeing with your one book friend over how to pronounce something out of a book, or in this case, of a blog.) is something I made up after someone recommended me a movie even though it hadn't come out yet. I thought to myself, "I could make that a thing."
       So, here I am, and here you are as I introduce my precommendation idea into the world. It could be great, it could be awful, but it's happening.
      Without further adieu, here are my precommendations for January!

January 3rd

       I enjoyed the first book in this series, but I didn't feel like it had much of a plot. I felt like it was all leading up to something that never came. Maybe this book will tie up some loose ends that I felt were left.
       And I like time travel. So there's that...

January 17th

       Here's the thing with me and Veronica Roth. We have a serious love-hate relationship. Divergent was great, so I binged Insurgent in one day. Consequently, I don't remember anything that happened. And then, Allegiant was awful. And THEN, she let the movie industry ruin the last two books.
       But, I do think that:
A) Veronica Roth is probably really good at starting a story, but not finishing. (Which I totally get. I started a really good fanfiction one time. The start was great, but I could never make anything of it. Maybe one day...)
B) She is simply due to write another good book. I can feel it in my bones.

January 17th

      There are no words that can describe my love of both Josh Sundquist and his book. He is awesome, his book is awesome, and I have a great feeling that this book with be awesome. 'Nough said.

January 31st

      I actually didn't know this was going to be a thing until I started to look up the details for this post. As soon as I saw it, though, I got so excited! Iko is one of my favorite characters in the Lunar Chronicles. I am so happy that she is getting her own story! It will also be very neat to see her and maybe other character come to life in drawings.